Gray Areas
by tere moto the sentry
Summary: When Billy drags his parents to Dinobonoid Land for the day, three outcasts from different worlds wonder whether being good or evil really is a black and white matter.


**Author's Note:** My first "Grim and Evil" fic. Yea!

**Disclaimer:** "Grim and Evil", "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", and all related stuff belong to Maxwell Atoms and Cartoon Network, except for "Beginningsville", which I made up.

**Warning: Misspelled words in dialogue are part of the character's accent, speech style, etc. and are meant to be there.**

Gray Areas

"_Mandy_! Guess what day it is?!" Billy shook his friend excitedly.

"It's the day you go to Dinobonoid Land," Mandy responded in her usual monotone.

Billy's face fell. "Aww. Where's the fun when you guess it right the first time?"

"You've been reminding me every day for the past two weeks, Billy."

"Oh, right. Well, I'm sorry you can't come. It's gonna rock!"

"I'm sure it will."

"_Grim_! Are my bags ready?" Billy called to the next room, "I hope you packed my special underwear! The one with the brown stripes! If ya know what I mean…" he diverted his attention back to Mandy and gave her a sly smile with an arched eyebrow.

Mandy shuddered for a moment in disgust, and almost actually felt sorry for Grim (she was genuinely surprised at almost feeling sorry for anyone), then went back to reading her book.

"Boy, why do you need all of dis?" a deep voice with a Jamaican accent called back. A skeleton in a black robe entered Billy's living room carrying three suitcases.

"Well, I've gots to haves all my Dinobonoid memorabilia to looks like a true fan!" Billy answered.

"Well, I got it all, mon" the Grim Reaper confirmed, "though it took me hours." He grumbled, setting the bags down and heading for the couch.

Billy eyed the suitcases suspiciously.

"Did you pack my old Dinobonoid jock strap?"

It's dare, Billy," Grim nodded.

Billy raised an eyebrow, then unzipped the bags and began rummaging through them, carelessly tossing the neatly folded clothes and compacted action figures on the floor.

"_Billy!_" Grim shouted.

"_It's not in here!_" Billy screeched angrily, pointing a finger accusingly at Grim. The boy then glanced back down.

"Oh, wait, it was on the top, I guess," Billy's face softened, and he giggled, "but ya still shouldn't have mades me throws that stuff out, Grim. Have fun picking it up!"

Grim's fists coiled and he growled.

"No one's going to want to see his soiled jock strap, anyway," Grim muttered.

"They just may," Mandy pointed out darkly, "I've seen quite a few Dinobonoid fans who _are_ that obsessed."

"There will be no need to pick it up for him, Grim," Billy's mother said, entering the room, "Harold and I can get it."

"Sure," Billy's father hurried over to help his wife pick up the bags and their contents, "Billy can put it back in on the way there."

"Aww," Billy whined. "Oh, well," his mood suddenly perked up, "maybe at Dinobonoid Land we can get cotton candy to cheer me up. Ooh, better yet, I hope there's some on the ground! Some that's been _stepped on_, yeah, that gives it a tang! I'll tries to brings some back for ya, Mandy. And Grim, if he wants some."

Mandy and Grim both shook their heads.

"Okay, then. See ya!"

Billy tore out of the house, followed by Mandy, Grim, and Billy's parents.

"So, are we going to your house, den?" Grim asked as he and Mandy walked down the sidewalk.

"Whatever," she answered, looking up at the darkening clouds.

"The weather forecast said it's gonna storm today," she grumbled, "I hope the power doesn't go out."

"Doze clouds make it feel so evil out here," Grim commented.

Both of them stopped.

"_Evil?_" Mandy asked.

She would have normally felt so exhilarated and empowered at the mention of evil, and so would Grim, but today, neither did. They both shrugged it off as they continued towards Mandy's house.

"There's nothing good on," Mandy groaned as she flipped through the channels.

"Have ya tried de movie channels?" Grim asked, sitting beside her on the couch.

Mandy nodded.

"Well, den, I guess we can just talk."

"Just talk?" Mandy glanced at him.

"Yeah, don't you ever do dat?" Grim returned her glance.

"Uh…no," Mandy raised an eyebrow, "what do we talk about?"

"Well, I've been feeling kind of weird today," Grim told her, "I just…I don't know, don't feel myself."

"Neither have I, actually," Mandy acknowledged as she flipped to the news.

"…the weather is looking bad for Endsville," the meteorologist announced, "We may have a few showers and maybe a thunderstorm this afternoon…"

"Oh, no. Does dat mean Billy's gonna come home early?" Grim asked.

"No. Dinobonoid Land is all the way in Beginningsville, and the clouds don't look like they're going in that direction," Mandy answered, peering out the window.

"It looks like it's gonna rain hard here, though," Grim sighed.

"Well, we'll be talking in here anyway," Mandy pointed out, "so, what is it that's making us feel like this? I don't feel as…well, evil as I usually do." She turned the T.V. off.

"Mandy?" Grim asked, "Why do you…feel like you have to be evil all dee time?"

Mandy paused. "Well, why do you feel like _you _have to?"

"Well," Grim replied, "dat's my job."

"No," Mandy looked the skeleton in the eyes, or lack thereof, "your job is to take spirits to the underworld. They must be nervous, so shouldn't that job call for a gentler touch?"

Grim thought to himself for a moment. "But if I softened up, I might start feeling sorry for da people whose time has come, and I might not do me job."

Mandy raised an eyebrow and sighed softly, almost even smiling, "I never thought you were evil, bonehead."

Grim tried to take it as an insult, but found it difficult.

"I mean, I know evil when I see it," Mandy continued, "and as for why I feel like I have to be evil, it's about feeling in control of everything."

Grim nodded, and then paused for a second. "But, why do you feel you have to be in control of everytang?"

Some strange look came over Mandy, and she began to sweat. She turned and forced herself to look out the window again.

"Mandy?" Grim asked curiously.

Mandy quickly found an excuse to change the subject. "Look out there," she pointed, "what's he doing there?"

"Who?" Grim looked over her shoulder. It had started pouring down rain outside, and out on the sidewalk was none other than Billy's cousin Nergal, Jr. Junior was standing in the downpour, shivering and looking in every direction, as if waiting for someone.

"Well, I guess I better go save him," Mandy groaned. Grim was a bit surprised at this as he watched Mandy head for the closet for her jacket.

"Ugh," she said after a moment of searching, "can't find it."

"Take dis," Grim pulled his black robe off to reveal his purely skeletal structure and handed the garment to the girl. Mandy seemed a bit confused as she threw it on.

"Okay," she answered, pulling the hood up and moving towards the door. She gave Grim one quick glance before venturing out.

"Er, thanks," she said and went outside to fetch Junior.

The rain was coming down in sheets as Mandy hurried down the sidewalk to where the boy stood.

"Hey, Junior!" she called over the sound of the many raindrops spattering the concrete. Nergal, Jr. looked up at her surprised.

"H-hi, M-Mandy," he said through chattering teeth, "H-have you s-s-seen either of my parents?"

"No, but it's really cold out here," she answered, "Come inside my house."

Junior raised an eyebrow, hardly able to believe what he had heard.

"Um, thanks."

Mandy nodded and grabbed the excess tail of the robe, being that her small body didn't fit into all of it, and held it over Junior as the two rushed back into Mandy's house. Grim smiled and fetched a towel for the soaked children.

"That was very nice of ya, Mandy," Grim told the girl as she dried off.

Mandy mumbled something almost inaudibly and shrugged.

"So, I guess we can sit down and get a soda," Grim started towards the kitchen, but Mandy stopped him.

"I'll get it," she said and left for the kitchen.

Grim and Junior sat down on the couch speechlessly.

"Uh, she doesn't normally do that, does she?" Junior asked. Grim shook his head, then, for a moment, entertained the idea of paying a visit to the Underworld to see if it had frozen over.

"Here," Mandy said quietly, and handed each of them a can of orange soda and sat on the couch beside them with a soda for herself.

"You…think I'm evil, don't you?" she said, staring at her soda.

"Well…yes," Grim said, "but I always wanted to be as evil as you. I felt…I was supposed to."

"I was always evil because I wanted a friend," Junior said, "I didn't know how else to do it."

Mandy was silent.

"I guess maybe…maybe no one can be truly evil," Grim offered.

"I thought I could be," Mandy whispered, "I wanted to be. I wanted power, I wanted confidence…I'm a little kid, and it made me feel so weak…I was tired of feeling that way."

"Maybe everyone has a good side," Junior pondered aloud.

Mandy sighed. "I was evil because…I'm afraid…"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"I guess…no one can be all the way good," Mandy said quietly.

"But no one can be all the way evil," Grim added.

"So it's not a black and white matter," Junior decided.

"I guess there are some gray areas…" Mandy said, and as the three sat listening to the rain outside and the chiming of the clock, some new feeling stirred within them and was brought forth, spawning from a new way of thinking, a new philosophy.

An invisible transformation took place that afternoon, and afterwards nothing looked only black and white.

Ah, yes, so many things in the world that seemed so monochromatic did indeed have gray areas…

**Author's Note:** Well, I thought I'd end that on a philosophical note. I liked the idea of seeing gray areas in between concepts some might normally see as black and white. Hope you enjoyed! Please do not give flaming reviews. Constructive criticism and praise accepted and appreciated.

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End file.
